2016

The Department of Art History and Archaeology and the Department of Anthropology will welcome the public to celebrate the re-opening of Swallow Hall Sept. 15, but departmental chairs Sue Langdon and Lisa Sattenspiel and campus officials took local reporters on a preview tour of the renovated building Sept. 14.

Cory Koedel, associate professor of economics and public policy at MU, says that without addressing the issue of pension debt, costs will continue to rise and their influence on public education services will become more pronounced.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Most public school teachers are enrolled in defined benefit (DB) pension plans, in which retirement income is determined by a complicated formula. Currently, states across the country are facing significant shortfalls in DB plans due to unfunded liabilities—effectively debt.

Over Labor Day weekend, the Associate Curator of the Museum of Anthropology once again set a new world record at the National Flight Archery Championships.

J’Den Cox, a senior majoring in psychology, won the bronze medal in the 86-kilogram freestyle wrestling competition at the recently concluded Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. With his win, Cox becomes just the eighth Tiger to medal at the Olympics.

The first Columbia native to win an Olympic medal has returned to class at MU and is getting back into the routine of day-to-day college life. J’Den Cox, a senior majoring in psychology, won the bronze medal in the 86-kilogram freestyle wrestling competition at the recently concluded Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. With his win, Cox becomes just the eighth Tiger to medal at the Olympics.

University of Missouri Provost Garnett Stokes announced today that Mitchell S. McKinney will serve as faculty fellow for academic personnel. His 12-month appointment will be full-time in the provost’s office. His duties will include monitoring the processes regarding faculty hiring, grievance petitions, academic integrity, and equity resolution.

Sailors, pilots, military service men and women deployed around the world, and government officials who make national security decisions all rely on the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to provide them with timely geospatial information that is critical for planning and decision-making.

Susan Nagel and her team released a study that is the first of its kind to link exposure to chemicals released during fracking to adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes in mice. Scientists believe that exposure to these chemicals also could pose a threat to human development.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – More than 15 million Americans live within a one-mile radius of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) operations. UOGs combine directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to release natural gas from underground rock. Scientific studies, while ongoing, are still inconclusive on the potential long-term effects fracturing has on human development.

The Peace Corps and the University of Missouri announced the launch of a new Paul D. Coverdell Fellows program that will provide graduate school scholarships to returned Peace Corps volunteers. All program fellows will complete internships in underserved American communities while they complete their studies, allowing them to bring home and expand upon the skills they learned as volunteers.

COLUMBIA, Mo. ­— Mizzou began its fall semester today with its third-highest retention rate in the university’s history and the highest ACT scores of any incoming freshman class, both indications that the University of Missouri continues to be a top choice for quality higher education in Missouri.

Mojgan Padash, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri, completed studies on fruit flies with a condition that mimics a form of HPV-induced cancer.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the United States and has been identified as a primary cause of cervical cancer in women. Now, an international team of researchers led by the University of Missouri has completed studies on fruit flies with a condition that mimics a form of HPV-induced cancer.

Emily Puckett, who recently received her doctorate in the Division of Biological Sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science, found that many species are encountering much longer wait times before receiving the endangered designation. Scientists studying the ESA believe that delays could lead to less global biodiversity. Credit: Melody Kroll

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted by Congress in 1973 to protect species threatened with extinction. To receive protection, a species must first be listed as endangered or threatened in a process that is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A two-year timeline for the multi-stage process, which starts with submission of a petition and ends with a final rule in the Federal Register, was established in 1982 by a Congressional amendment to the ESA.

David Geary found that preschoolers who better process words associated with numbers and understand the quantities associated with these words are more likely to have success with math when they enter kindergarten.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – While many studies have been conducted on infants’ and preschoolers’ math competencies, few have evaluated how toddlers’ basic mathematics knowledge relates to early elementary school success.

For most of the 20th century, domestic and international adoptions were closed. Birth parents typically placed their child with an adoption agency or a religious organization and never heard from the child again, unless the child sought them out years later.

Thomas E. Phillips has been appointed a Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor. The position is one of the most prestigious titles granted by the University of Missouri System and is awarded by the UM Board of Curators.

Jim Schiffbauer is on a roll. The assistant professor of geological sciences has received the Provost’s Outstanding Junior Faculty Research and Creative Activity Award for 2016. The award gives special recognition to junior faculty in the early phases of their careers for superior research and creative activity on the MU campus. And just last week, Schiffbauer was notified his first National Science Foundation (NSF) grant was funded.

Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate, Tim Kaine, has served as a missionary, civil rights lawyer, teacher and elected official. He is one of 20 people in American history to have served as a mayor, governor and United States senator.

The American Chemical Society has named the 2016 class of ACS fellows, which includes two chemistry professors at the University of Missouri. Kent Gates, the Herman G. Schlundt Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and Silvia Jurisson, professor of chemistry and radiology, are among the 57 scientists who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and made important contributions to ACS, the world’s largest scientific society.

The University of Missouri School of Music has hired Erin Cooper to be the new Director of Marching Mizzou, one of the most visible ensembles in the School of Music and the largest student organization on campus. Cooper has been Director of Bands at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma, for the past year.

John Huntley loves Italian food, which is convenient because the assistant professor of paleobiology will spend the next month as a senior visiting fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy.